Ben Ray Luján brought his campaign back to familiar territory on Sunday with stops in Los Alamos at the Sierra Club and the John F. Kennedy Dinner.

Luján, the Democratic U.S. Representative for New Mexico’s 3rd congressional district, grew up in Nambé and said he is happy any time he can return to the area.

“It’s always important to be home,” he said Sunday afternoon at the Betty Ehart Senior Center. “I take advantage of every opportunity I can to be here. We’re on a plane every week and when we’re in New Mexico I’m on the road. We’re honored to represent a district of about 47,000 square miles. It takes about eight and a half hours to drive across it. It’s a beautiful district, but because of the number of counties we represent we do our best to make sure we get into every county.”

A member of the cross country and track teams in high school, Luján recalled many times when he competed against the Los Alamos Hilltoppers, some he calls friends to this day.

“I had a lot of fun during those times,” he said. “We had an incredible coach, Alan Lockridge, and we had some great meets – several of them right here in Los Alamos. Back when we ran cross county the course was still in the canyon.”